[Houston]
Reclaimed visuals have been all the rage for several years. Manufacturers use HD printing and EIR to produce luxury vinyl tile (LVT), laminate and even ceramic tile featuring these looks, and hardwood products featuring heavy scraping emulate the look as well. But Ruth Gay, founder and proprietor of
architectural antiques company Chateau Domingue, offers the real deal.
Gay takes frequent trips to
Europe in an effort to source unique pieces — including flooring, tiles, mantels, doors, lighting, hardware and more. The 15,000 square foot showroom in Houston, Texas, showcases the company’s finds, as well as a number of lines the company produces.
Gay said she decided to start Chateau Domingue, which has been in business for 16 years, when she and her husband were building a house. “I had grown up in Europe, and I wanted to incorporate European pieces into my home,” she said. She traveled to Europe for her first buying trip, and that was when the idea entered her mind.
“It’s grown quite dramatically,” Gay said. The showroom started out with 5,000 square feet of space, with three employees, including herself. Today, she has 35 employees and operates on three acres of land.
At first, Gay only wanted to offer reclaimed products. But as time went on, she found newer, beautiful stones she could work with, hand-aging them to give them a similar look. “The price points are better, and opened it up to more clients,” she said.
While Chateau Domingue offers a variety of reclaimed and antique décor products, its big seller is flooring. “People come to order for their entire house, whether it’s 18th century oak flooring, or 16th century stone from an old farmhouse, 18th century Tunisian tile…we have such a wide variety,” she said.
Gay hand-selects everything herself, and has a full-time team member in France who will go out and take pictures for Gay to review if she can’t be there.
She added that while she passes up on a lot of flooring during her sourcing trips, when she finds something that meets the brand’s aesthetic, it’s usually time-worn and ageless. “I love stones that have patina,” she shared. “If I love it and I feel like there is a client for it, I buy it. From day one, I’ve bought what I love.”